Hello Lady Penelope here how may I help? Well let’s face it is pretty darn cold everywhere in europe, but particularly in Roquetaillade and so yesterday we took in our first refugees of the cold, Meliana and Garth!! Poor sods were having a tough time of it, their water pipes froze which means no running water, so no showers, no tea, no loo, you get the picture. The heating at Garth’s is also somewhat restrained shall we say, and Meliana, coming from Indonesia where temperatures drop no lower than 24C, was slowly turning blue.

Anyhow we are delighted to have them, also quite chuffed that we are able to put anyone up and keep them warm!! It ain’t easy though, we do need to burn a lot of wood but that said I worked out even in this very, unusually cold spat we are getting through 63€ of firewood a week. Now I am not sure what anyone else spends on heating so maybe you can let me know as it would be interesting to do a comparison. Obviously we have a massive house, bigger than most peoples in the UK, that is only partially sectioned off from the elements which means we are also combatting drafts. Next year we will have covered all the stone walls in a mix of lime and hemp so we will not have this problem, but we cannot do it until spring at the earliest so this year we just have to burn more wood.

Last night the living room was very toasty, I even felt a little too warm at one point!! So I guess if we can get this room warm, even without the finished walls, we can get anywhere warm! As I type the fire is roaring, Meliana is working, cosy next to the gas heater and the boys have gone off to pick up more firewood and there is snow on the ground, unheard of in Coustouge!

Oooh I am looking forward to complaining about the heat in summer again!